The present invention comprises a new Verbena, botanically known as Verbena hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name ‘VEAZ0017’.
‘VEAZ0017’ is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar has brilliant red-purple colored flowers with a small white eye, deep green deeply lobed foliage, good branching with somewhat compact plant habit.
‘VEAZ0017’ originated from a hybridization made in August 2007 in a greenhouse environment in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands. The female parent was the proprietary plant designated ‘Puwydena’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 22,535, with reddish flowers, a plant habit with fewer branches and higher seed set rate than that of ‘VEAZ0017’.
The male parent of ‘VEAZ0017’ was a proprietary plant designated ‘Flagdena’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 22,438, with pink bicolored flowers, much more vigorous habit and a higher seed set rate than that of ‘VEAZ0017’. The seed was sown in February 2008 in a greenhouse environment in Enkuizen, The Netherlands.
‘VEAZ0017’ was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in August 2008 in a greenhouse environment in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands. The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘VEAZ0017’ was accomplished when vegetative stem cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in August 2008 in a greenhouse environment in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.